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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22871131">the merest hint</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavandgin/pseuds/lavandgin'>lavandgin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Hating Game - Sally Thorne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, One Shot, josh's POV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:29:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,458</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22871131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavandgin/pseuds/lavandgin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I have lain in bed so many nights thinking about your colored lace bra under the white shirt. How embarrassing.” </p><p>Josh pining alone late at night in his blue bedroom.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lucy Hutton/Joshua Templeman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>130</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the merest hint</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Josh flipped his pillow in vain, folding it over in an attempt to find a comfortable position. The night felt stiflingly hot and he kicked his legs to try and free them from his twisted sheets. He gave up and fell flat on his back with a huff.</p><p>He couldn’t stop thinking about her.</p><p>His workout that night had been more brutal than usual, he had done twice the number of reps in an attempt to wear himself out. Now his muscles ached but his mind continued to race. In the quiet of his room he had run out of distractions and was faced with the undeniable truth: he wanted her badly. He flipped over and hid his face into the pillows. Even in the privacy of his room he couldn’t help but burn slightly with embarrassment. It felt wrong to obsess over her this way. Was there something wrong with him? Even at the height of his teenage hormones no woman had ever affected him like this.</p><p>It had started with the board meeting that day. Lucy had looked extra vibrant next to their bland middle-aged coworkers with the pop of red on her lips and her frizzy hair piled on her head. Her voice rang out confident and clear, pressing department heads on their numbers for the quarter, taking attentive notes and warmly thanking each one after their presentations. So different from the caustic tone she used with him. He looked down at his planner, rolling his pencil between his fingers and tried to remember the talking points he was supposed to ask the financial division. The afternoon was dragging on and the sun was starting to come low through the windows. The stuffy room made it even more difficult to focus on the tedious meeting.</p><p>He looked up and his heart began to thump harder. Lucy was standing at the front of the room, pulling up visual aids on her laptop. He lived for these presentations when he had an excuse to look at her. She had on a pencil skirt with some vintage-looking sheer stockings. She turned, and his eyes followed the line the black seams made up her legs. Faintly, he wondered if Jeanette from HR would consider the stockings as obscene as he did.</p><p>She had left her cardigan draped over her chair and was in a thin white blouse. It was practically sheer and he could see the texture of something lacy beneath it. She reached her arm up to point at a graph projected on the wall and he could see that whatever was beneath was a light purple. Wait no, was that pink?</p><p>He felt his face start to heat and glanced around at his coworkers. None of them seemed remotely affected by this, most looked like they were about to fall asleep. He had no idea how they could resist looking at her. When she was around, he was never a bit bored. He scribbled in the margins of his planner and tried to blink the image of the bra out of his mind.</p><p>“Joshua? Did you hear what I asked?” All the heads at the table turned his way.</p><p>“Hm?” It was unlike him to be off his game in a meeting. Even though he couldn’t care less about performance reviews he usually tried to at least pull his weight.</p><p>“I asked if you had anything to add about editorial reviews for this quarter.”  Her tone was crisp and professional, but her eyes looked wicked, relishing the opportunity to grill him in front of everyone. He secretly loved seeing her get bossy like this. What he’d give to see how bossy she could really be. Unfortunately, they couldn’t spar properly with 15 other people in the room.</p><p>“No Lucinda, I think that will do,” he said in a condescending tone. Visible annoyance registered in her face and he could tell she was biting back a retort. Instead, she leveled her eyes at him and he felt a jolt to his stomach.</p><p>In an ideal world, at the end of the meeting they’d be left alone to pack up the presentation materials and she’d really boss him around. He’d slowly unbutton her silky blouse while she impatiently kissed him, grinding into his thighs. Hands sliding under her shirt to trace along the fabric, feeling silk and lace and warm skin. Lipstick prints on his neck and her hands running all over him, wanting it as badly as he did…</p><p> </p><p>Josh rolled his face into the pillow with a groan and his cock twitched. He had gotten hard just thinking about her. God, he was way too pent up. He tried to remember the last time he’d had sex. It felt like an eternity ago, he practically lived like a monk these days. Memories of Mindy seemed distant and things hadn’t  exactly been heated between them. He tried to get out as much physical energy as he could at the gym but that only went so far. To his credit, he had tried everything. Any distraction, any other fantasy material, but everything lead back to Lucy. It was a well-worn path his mind was too used to walking.  </p><p>He gripped around the base and let out a groan, he was so hard it was almost painful. Every day involved so much resisting, focusing, schooling himself into a straight face. It was exhausting having to pretend every day that he didn’t want her. That he didn’t relish the feeling of her eyes on him. He had become addicted to her attention.</p><p>He had so many games he wanted to play with her. He’d sneak her into the supply closet and press her back up against the boxes. He’d slip his hand under her skirt, hear her breath catch in the dark and they’d play a game to see how close he could get her without her making any noise. If she thought he teased her now she had no idea. He wanted to be the reason she came undone, to feel her tighten up around him and make desperate noises as he slid his fingers inside. He wanted to learn every tiny thing that made her gasp and dig her nails into his back. Anything to make her feel good, to make her say his name, to trust him enough to let go.</p><p> </p><p>He opened his eyes, pressed his palms into the mattress, and let out a deep breath. God, what had he been reduced to? Fantasizing about board meetings and supply closets at home in bed. Tossing and turning over the smallest suggestion of what was underneath her clothes.  He shouldn’t let himself think this way. It was hard enough to be composed at work. But she had to want it too, didn’t she? He could tell Lucy tried hard to keep a poker face, but he couldn’t be imagining the way she looked at him. She was burning up about this as much as he was. Always fierce and clever and ready with a smart-ass retort. She was driving him insane.</p><p>Josh gave in and began to stroke in earnest. He let himself imagine it was Lucy’s small hand wrapping around him, thought about her writhing around between his sheets in her purple lingerie. He let himself groan her name and it turned him on even more. Fuck, it felt so good to say it.  </p><p>Unbidden, the movie reel in his mind flashed from image to image. Smearing her lipstick with his thumb. Her ragged breathing in his ear, her hands twisting around his hair.  A long, slow lick parting her folds. Feeling her thighs grip around him, pulling him closer. Her hips arching up to meet his.</p><p> </p><p>It was the thought of her underneath him, blue eyes looking up at his, that sent him over the edge. The force of his orgasm rocked him and he couldn’t help but cry out. He laid there with his eyes shut, hands still gripping, suddenly aware of the sound of his panting in the quiet room. He tried to catch his breath and kicked the sheets off his hot skin. As the serotonin rush subsided, he felt the familiar ache swirl around his chest and slowly sink in. His bed suddenly felt huge.</p><p>He wished, not for the first time, that her small form was there next to him. He started wishing for things he had no right to wish for.</p><p>He got up to clean himself off, splashed water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He could go out and find a real girlfriend, one that would spend time in his bed, one that didn’t hurl constant insults at him.</p><p>It didn’t sound remotely appealing.</p>
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